Greg's Mystery Life

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Was Greg's Mystery Life really such a mystery?
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MattblackUK
MattblackUK
1,442 Followers

My thanks to Randi for the invitation and to Literotica for being here for us. And thanks to Randi for her editing. NOTE: Although a certain amount of research has been undertaken, I make no guarantee as to the accuracy of any technical or legal points in this story. Which is fictional, of course! I hope you will enjoy this and every other Magical Mystery Tour story.

It sometimes seemed to Greg Baker that much of his life was a mystery, or that his life had often been touched by mysterious coincidences or mysterious events.

He hadn't expected to do well at school, but, mysteriously, he had. He hadn't expected to continue with his educational success at the local college, but, again, rather mysteriously, everything had fallen into place and he had received his PhD during his 25th year.

He wasn't the youngest ever PhD graduate, he seemed to recall some poor child prodigy had beaten him by 12 years or so, but he was more than happy with his PhD at age 25.

He was also mystified, yet very happy, that he had met (or rather, re-met, it's a little complicated) and married the blonde and utterly gorgeous Tawny Mason when he went to work for the largest employer in their rather modest city, Augmented Future Sciences, which was a major player in the world of computer software.

Actually, they had sort of known each other since junior high and throughout high school. Although they'd been friendly when they saw each other, they'd never actually been close or best friends.

During that time Tawny had dated fellow student, Scott O'Shea. In fact, they were still dating when they entered the first year at the local college. It was rumoured that he had popped the question, and that she had accepted and then, suddenly and mysteriously, Scott O'Shea had joined the Marines and left town, never to return.

Tawny was heartbroken, and for a while her grades slipped, but with the help of her friends and some of her tutors, she pulled through. The topic of Scott O'Shea was still not open for discussion. It was almost as if he had never existed.

Tawny did not date anyone, at least not seriously, during the rest of her time at college, and whilst she wasn't a party animal, she knew how to have a (reasonably) good time.

When she entered the world of work and commenced her employment at Augmented Future Sciences, this was when she met (or sort of re-met, it's still somewhat complicated) and fell in love with Greg Baker. It was a mutual attraction, if the truth was told.

"Greg and Tawny, Tawny and Greg. Mrs. Tawny Baker, Mrs. Greg Baker," she mused to herself on their way to their honeymoon in the San Francisco Bay area. She loved her marriage to her handsome smart young husband, whom she also loved. As many people will acknowledge, loving marriage as a concept and loving one's spouse are two entirely different matters.

She did love her husband and their marriage, until she didn't, but that was to be 10 years down the line.

They'd decided not to have children straight away, although to be honest, that had been mostly down to Tawny who had said: "Greg, I want to have children with you, but not just yet. Let's enjoy ourselves and explore ourselves as husband and wife and also establish ourselves in our careers first, okay?"

"After all," she added, "It's not like it is as bad as it was in the olden days; birth is now no longer as risky as it was in even our parents' generation, and the average age of new moms is rising year-on-year, so we've really got no hurry, have we?"

Although he was a little disappointed, Greg acquiesced to her suggestion. After all, he ruminated, "It was her body and there would always be enough time later."

Really? Not really, but there was no way for Greg to have known at that point.

Career-wise things were progressing well for Greg. Good things were still coming his way in that mysterious way things kept happening for him. He was in the right place at the right time and was unexpectedly, as least unexpectedly to Greg, perhaps he had self-confidence issues, thrust into the role of the project director of a team that was developing some truly high end and revolutionary award-winning SAAS packages.

As for Tawny, her career within Augmented Future Sciences was also progressing well; she was the Personal Assistant to Hal Smith, who was the director of another development team. Lest any wrong ideas spring to mind, Tawny had also been a maid of honour to Hal and his boyfriend, Jeremy, when they tied the knot.

Whilst Greg had a youthful female Personal Assistant, she, Donna, was living with her older female lover, so Greg was not tempted, either. Not that he would be, as Greg was a good guy, a real straight arrow, too. Was he also a bit naïve and gullible? Perhaps so.

It was during the latter part of the tenth year of their marriage that, had Greg been able to spot them, there were signs that not all was well with his marriage to Tawny. As had been pointed out previously, Greg was somewhat naïve and perhaps a little gullible. Besides which, Tawny was being smart, and she wasn't cheating on Greg. Well, not as such. Not exactly, that is to say.

They lived in a large house on well-to-do Castle Oak Road, amidst several dozen similar homes. They had only been built for a few years and were homes for the up-and-coming executives who were ready to make their mark on corporate America.

All at once, Tawny began being very solicitous of Greg. Although their sex life had entered a seasonal doldrums, she was always getting Greg snacks and drinks and so forth. "Greg, honey, is there anything I can get you? Greg, honey, are you feeling okay? Greg, honey, I made you your favourite dinner, Greg, honey, I cleaned your dress shoes, Greg honey I..." well, the picture is clear, even though to Greg's chagrin, there was still little or no sex.

Greg was both pleased and somewhat bemused by her attentiveness as it reminded him of an old 1950s advert when a doting wife was depicted as having her smug looking husband's pipe and slippers ready for him when he returned from work each evening.

There seemed to be about Tawny, something on which he couldn't quite put his finger. It was as if she was bursting to tell him something, but couldn't quite broach the subject. The over-solicitousness lasted for approximately a month until one day they were both sat in the lounge drinking tea when their doorbell rang. Greg glanced at the clock, frowning in puzzlement. "It's almost ten o'clock," he said. "Were you expecting anyone, Tawny?"

"No," replied Tawny, depicting an attitude of nonchalant, studied calm. "I can't imagine who it might be. Are you going to answer it?"

Greg went into the hallway of their house to answer the door.

As he opened the door he had half expected some religious types pushing their religion, but was met with three large heavily armed figures in black military assault clothing, wearing face masks.

As they crashed through the door, he was punched in the guts and propelled into the lounge. Tawny gave a theatrical gasp as Greg was thrown to the floor.

The leader of the trio grabbed Tawny, and made to pull her toward the door, but Greg suddenly leapt from the ground with a roar, lunging at the armed man. For his trouble, Greg had the side of his head struck with the barrel of the automatic pistol that the man was holding. Before Greg could react to the sudden pain he crumpled to the ground as the butt of the pistol was smashed downward in a vicious strike to his head.

As he lay on the floor he felt a kick to his side and he began to slide toward unconsciousness, his last conscious thought being: "I've failed my Tawny." He was aware of a jumble of sounds and feelings, but he was unable to process them as he faded out.

He became cognizant of his surroundings as he awoke. "Shit! That was a horrible dream," he thought. As his eyes opened he realised that he was not in bed at home with his wife, Tawny, and that he was in a hospital bed. That there had been no horrible dream.

He shouted in blind panic and suddenly a nurse appeared at his bedside. "Please, Mr Baker! Be calm! You have received a severe head injury, and you must be careful! A police detective wants to speak with you, I'll go and get her, and I'll tell your doctor you are awake."

A few minutes later the nurse returned with a man wearing scrubs and a dark haired, attractive woman a few years younger than Greg. She was wearing a slightly crumpled business suit. Greg presumed, correctly, that she was the detective.

The Doctor took charge of the situation. "Hello, Mr Baker, Greg. I am Doctor Mathis, I am a neurologist. You have received a couple of hard knocks to your head and a nasty kick to your side. Luckily, scans show your spleen was not damaged, but you do have a fractured skull. Our x-rays and brain scan show it as a minor closed linear fracture, which will not require treatment, as such, save for some pain medications.

"I understand a police car and an ambulance was called to your property at about 11.30PM last night, you were brought into our ER at just before midnight. It's now 9AM, the next morning.

"You have concussion and your side will be sore for a couple of days from the kick you were given. We'll aim to keep you in hospital for a couple of days, just to monitor your situation. Do you have any questions for me?"

Greg shook his head, an instinctive response that he instantly regretted. "No, sir, but thank you for what you have done for me."

He looked toward the female, who addressed him: "Hello, Mr Baker. Do you mind if I call you Greg? My name is Detective Kathy Stewart, I'm with the Police Department Major Crime Unit. Amongst other matters, we deal with cases that involve kidnapping. I'll keep things brief as you have only just come round. It's now 9AM; you were subject to a home invasion and knocked unconscious.

"Due to an anonymous call to 911 at 11.15PM last night, a patrol car was directed to proceed to your home and you were found unconscious in your lounge in a pool of blood; the front door was wide open.

"There was no sign of your wife, although a sealed envelope was found on the sofa in the room addressed to a Mr Karl Viennese, regarding the kidnapping of his wife, Sadie Viennese. As your wife is called Tawny Baker we are presuming that your wife was kidnapped in error. We have sent out a BOLO and an APB on your wife. We'll get her back. That's a promise.

"Can you describe the men who attacked you?"

Greg frowned in concentration. "There were three of them. They were all of about six foot in height, well-built, they were all dressed in black military style gear, plus they were all masked. The one who was the leader, I guess, he punched me in the guts, hit me with his gun a couple times, then he kicked me. That's all I know. Do you have any idea who did this to Tawny and me?"

She shook her head. "No. We are going to start door-to-door interviews in your neighbourhood to see if any of your neighbours saw anything. These often lead to useful outcomes.

"Incidentally, do you and your wife know anyone by the name of Viennese?" He frowned in concentration before he replied: "No. Total mystery, to me. We know nobody of that name."

She quizzed him as to whether or not they had any enemies who would be possible suspects involved in kidnapping his wife?

He replied in the negative.

"Do you have any questions for me, Greg?" she asked, finally.

He shook his head and yawned, apologetically. She took her leave of him and headed back to the police HQ where she was to meet with her colleague who she had been assigned the case with, Dave Clarendon.

Although she was slightly younger than her fellow detective, Dave Clarendon didn't mind Kathy taking the lead on this case. Whilst he wasn't exactly lazy, he knew his limitations, his strengths and weaknesses, and he knew that leadership was not a particularly strong suit for him. He was quite content for others to take the lead, and the flak should things go down badly. There was always that, of course.

"Hi, Kathy," he said to her as she entered the detective office on the second floor of the police HQ. "Got you a mug of coffee. How'd it go at the hospital?"

"Thanks, Dave. I could do with a drink of coffee! It went about as well as you could expect. Greg Baker is still very shaken up by what happened to him. He was punched in the guts, hit twice with a gun giving him a fractured skull and then kicked in the side, after which he blacked out."

Dave nodded, taking it all in. "Do you think he was involved in his wife's disappearance?"

Kathy shook her head. "No. I doubt that very much. I know that it's received wisdom that the spouse is often involved in this type of case, but I got no such vibe off of him. Besides which, I'm guessing that with a little more force to the blows to his head he'd probably have spent time in rehab learning to walk again."

"Okay," Dave replied. "What do we have, so far?"

"Dispatch received an anonymous 911 call at 11.15PM claiming someone had had a severe accident at 84 Castle Oak Road. A patrol car and an ambulance were directed to the scene and the patrol officers entered the house through the open door, keeping the paramedics safely on the porch while the officers secured the scene.

"They found Greg Baker unconscious in the lounge in a pool of blood and the paramedics took him to the Emergency Room. Forensics was at the scene of the crime for several hours afterward; we have a presence at the house in case the attackers return. I know it's unlikely, but with the criminal mind you just can't tell."

"True, that," responded Dave. "By the way, the letter that was left at the house? No DNA on it at all. Self-seal envelope, so no saliva on the glue strip.

"It seems to be a letter of warning to a Mr. Karl Viennese that his wife Sadie was being kidnapped to be held for ransom. I say seems to be, because not only is there not a Mr. Karl Viennese and a Mrs. Sadie Viennese anywhere in our city, a search on national databases has thrown up no Mr. and Mrs. Karl and Sadie Viennese at all."

"So, the letter was probably a fake? Interesting. The mystery deepens, as they say. We'll have to wait to see what the officers doing the neighbourhood survey can find out for us. Three men in military gear would have raised at least some interest, you'd think?"

"Yeah. They should have!"

"Anyhow, we have to look at the evidence we are going to put forward in the Johnson case. I think if we can really get our ducks together, Johnson will go for a plea."

As is often the way with police officers whilst they were waiting for results from the neighbourhood survey, they got on with mundane paperwork tasks.

When the uniformed sergeant who was in charge of the team doing the survey of the neighbours reported back, she had nothing concrete for the detectives.

Sergeant Donna Clarke said: "Those guys were pros. Maybe they really are or were military? No sighting of a vehicle, but someone did report hearing a fairly heavy duty engine at about the time in question. Guess we'd better do a sweep of CCTV systems in the area and in the city itself?"

"Yeah, good idea, Donna" said Kathy.

Later that day, a young uniformed officer knocked on the already open door of the detective's office and looked into the office with a sense of wonder and awe.

Hey, Kathy!" whispered Dave, "that young patrolman has a Jones for you!"

Kathy giggled and whispered back: "Nah! I've met with Josh before. He doesn't have a Jones for me, or you, before you get all nervy on me. Josh has a Jones for being a detective."

She addressed Patrolman Josh Banner directly. "Hi, Josh. What can I do for you?"

He walked into the room and shook hands with both detectives. "Hi, Kathy, Dave. It's hopefully something I can help you with. I don't know if you were aware, but Doug Fiddler and I took the call to go to the kidnapping house. We went in, guns drawn and we saw Mr Baker lying on the floor in the lounge. But there was something that was bothering me about the situation, but it wasn't until a few minutes ago that I realised what it was.

"Before we had gotten to the house, someone had already put Mr Baker into the recovery position. Now, some dude has just tried to smash his head in and kicked him in the side, why would they bother to put him in the recovery position? That doesn't make any sense to me."

They thanked Josh for his information and he happily left the room.

"Shit!" said Dave. "That really does muddy the waters. I mean, Josh has a point. Why would a dangerous and violent kidnapper bash someone in the head twice, kick him in the side and then bother to take time to put his victim in the recovery position? Josh is right. That doesn't make any sense."

Kathy responded thoughtfully: "Maybe they let Tawny Baker do it? But a gang of desperate kidnappers taking the time to do that? I think this case just left Kansas, Dave. Be sure to say hello to Dorothy and little Toto if you get the chance!"

A week after the kidnapping, the police were still stuck for clues and Greg Baker was fretting and recovering from his physical injuries at home, having been released from the hospital.

When in doubt, police forces worldwide from the smallest Sheriff's office to the biggest Metro police departments know, by-and-large, the value of using the press. That was why, perhaps against her better judgement, Kathy found herself in the news studio of the local TV station, TBS, which was part of a small but important regional network.

"Good morning, you're with Morning News here on TBS, with me, Davall Smith and my co-host, Mitzy LeBrea.

"We lead this morning with the mysterious kidnapping last week of a local woman, Mrs. Tawny Baker, from her Castle Oak Road residence.

"Mrs. Baker and her husband, Greg, were at home last Tuesday evening when their doorbell rang. When Mr. Baker answered the door he was attacked by three armed and masked men dressed in combat gear.

"During the incident, Mr. Baker was beaten about the head with a gun as he tried to protect his wife. After Mr. Baker was rendered unconscious, it is believed that his wife was kidnapped.

"Later that evening, 911 received an anonymous call that a man had been injured at an address in Oak Castle Road. This led to the discovery of Mr. Baker, unconscious, in the lounge area of the property.

"We'll allow Detective Kathy Stewart to take up the story. Kathy, what can you tell us?"

"Thank you, Davall, you set the scene well. The police are looking for the three men who kidnapped Mrs. Tawny Baker and assaulted and injured Mr. Greg Baker. Police enquiries in the neighbourhood were unable to establish any positive results, it appears that nobody saw or heard the team."

Mitzy LeBrea added: "Do you have any CCTV results?"

"I'm glad you mention that, Mitzy," replied Kathy. "We asked for help from people with CCTV systems and we looked at the City's CCTV and we were able to identify the getaway vehicle as a new or nearly new grey GMC Savana van, which had fake licence tags.

"If anyone thinks they can help us, they can please call this number 1-800-POLICEREP, or the Crime Stoppers anonymous number 1-800-222-Tips, if you'd rather be anonymous. Calls to that number might entitle the caller to an anonymous reward."

"Kathy, how is Mr. Baker?"

"He was kept in hospital for several days and is now recovering at home."

"Thank you, Kathy, and now we go over to our business correspondent for news of an exciting new development on the east side of the city."

After being cued that the studio was, for at least the next two minutes, off air, Kathy put her lapel mic down on the chair and air kissed the two anchors as she left and headed back to the police station.

As she drove the few blocks back she ruminated on the investigation.

MattblackUK
MattblackUK
1,442 Followers
12